Semiconductor fabrication technology applied to micrometer valves

The authors describe the first stages of process development of silicon field-emitting structures together with novel techniques for improving individual processing steps. It is demonstrated that refined lithographic techniques, originally developed for semiconductor device fabrication, can be readily applied to the manufacture of micrometer-sized field emitters. The modifications needed for optimum tip shaping and dielectric planarization are examined in detail, and satisfactory results are obtained.